Cincinnati men's draw decimated by injury pull-outs

Cincinnati, Ohio - The injury-hit Cincinnati Masters suffered another blow on Tuesday as Milos Raonic withdrew with a left wrist complaint.

The injury-prone Canadian's pull-out leaves the last major tune-up prior to the start of the US Open in 13 days painfully short of household names on the men's side. The loss of Raonic means just three top 10-ranked ATP men remain in the first-round draw: Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev. Those out include Andy Murray (hip), Roger Federer (back), Stan Wawrinka (knee surgery), Novak Djokovic (elbow), defending champion Marin Cilic (adductor muscle), Kei Nishikori (wrist) and number 10 Raonic. The women's side is also short a pregnant Serena Williams and injured Maria Sharapova, who was unable to take up a wild card entry due to an arm problem. While the WTA top 10 are all playing, former winner Victoria Azarenka was forced to pull out due to a family crisis as she fights a custody battle with her former American boyfriend about their newborn son. In early results on the women's side, Russian Natalia Vikhlyantseva beat Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 while American Ash Barty put out Varvara Lepchenko 6-4, 6-4. Juan Martin del Potro beat 10th seed Tomas Berdych 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0 to improve his record in the series to 5-3 over the Czech and avenge a loss in their last meeting in 2016. Berdych was back on court after pulling out of Montreal last week with a rib problem; Del Potro played the Cincinnati semis in 2012 and 2013 Russian Karol Khachanov put out Diego Schwartzman 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, with the loss coming a week after the Argentinian stunned top seed Rafael Nadal in the Montreal third round. Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine beat Montreal quarter-finalist Kevin Anderson 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).